Posted
by
Zonk
on Monday October 31, 2005 @01:44AM
from the he's-just-a-man dept.

Ant writes "Steve Jobs is the chief executive of two of the most powerful technology brands in the world: Apple and Pixar. But what motivates him? And how does he choose a new washing machine? An article in the Independent explores this much loved and much hated man." From the article: "Alan Deutschmann, a journalist who researched Jobs's middle years for a biography called The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, believes he displays two personalities in his dealings with people: Good Steve and Bad Steve. The Good side is charming, and can make people believe almost anything; that's the side on public view at the rock-star product launches. He's been said to have a 'reality distortion field' - by a mixture of charm and exaggeration, he can make you believe pretty much anything."

He's been said to have a 'reality distortion field' - by a mixture of charm and exaggeration, he can make you believe pretty much anything.

I hear that it is even said, that he has managed, with the use of this "reality distortion field", to make many people believe that Apple systems have had far fewer virus, security and stability problems!

I always wondered - was Steve Jobs really just in the right place at the right time?

All this talk of a 'reality distortion field', together with his remarkable good fortune at key moments, has made me think that Steve Jobs is in some ways like a real-life version of Zaphod Beeblebrox.

"We spent about two weeks talking about this. Every night at the dinner table imagine dinner-table conversation about washing machines every night!...Of course, this wasn't really about washing machines; it was about passing along the concern for design to his children and perhaps to (his wife) Laurene."

You forget the biggest point... if Apple went away who would Microsoft (and some Linux desktops in that they slavishly follow the M$ user interface) copy and get ideas from? Don't say they would hire the Apple engineers, M$ obviously doesn't provide the right environment for innovation and would stifle anyone they hire.

There is no reason to buy Apple products if you don't mind waiting 3to 12 months for Dell and IBM to implement a poorly integratedversion of Apple's hardware innovations,if you don't mind waiting 1 to 10 years for MS to generate a useable kludge ofApple's software innovations, and if you don't mind loading MS service packsthat completely shut down your computer. The analogy using Lexus and Toyotaisn't appropriate because Lexus and Toyota both make high quality products.Microsoft recently reorganized its software development effortand it wasn't because they were proud of what they were generating.

Considering the quality of the products, the sizes of theirrespective companies, their marketing budgets, and the free advertising bythe hordes of sychophants who cluelessly attribute innovation to MicrosoftI say that the crown for marketing effectiveness legitimatelybelongs to Dell and Microsoft.